It was 2005 or 2006 and I was watching the Dogfights Hell over Hanoi episode, and the Aces High commercial came on. I was so jacked, I recorded the episode when it repeated on VHS, just so I could watch the commercial several times.
I then dug out my copy of CFS2 and started playing around on that while lurking the forums and trying to scrape together the bucks to get a better PC.
I tried the two week trial and then it was a while before I actually subscribed, but I kept lurking on the forums.
I then cancelled for several months when I was too busy to fly and then re-upped after the big graphics update.
hitech, if you ever wondered..... the commercial worked at least once!